I've always been a little weirded out by the NHL's rules that places the Division leaders in the top three positions of the conference. While this currenly places the Senators in third place in the Conference, it must really chafe other teams like the Flyers and Rangers who have more points.



I understand that the NHL is a business and that they're trying to generate local rivalries which is good for the bank account, but I fail to see how an Edmonton - Colorado match-up, for example, can be considered "local", or would get fans hot under the collar.

In recent years, many deserving teams have been bumped out of the playoffs because some other, less powerful team, topped out their own Division. For the sake of equity among the teams, there should be no advantage to finishing in first place in your own Division. Sure, the teams play about 30 percent of their games against a Division rival, but that's not what I'd call playing "predominantly" against your own Division. As a matter of fact the games are scheduled so that East meets East and West meets West for most of the season. If there should be some advantage, then the winner in the East and the winner in the West should be have that advantage.

Even better would be to take the top 16 teams in the entire NHL standing and pit them against each other in the playoff regardless of Division or Conference. We would see some interesting matchups in the playoffs, especially the Stanley Cup finals. But it's a pipe dream. As long as Gary Bettman is at the wheel of the league, he will ensure that the rules favour having hockey in all regions of the NHL for as long as possible to generate as much revenue revenue as possible. It's one of those cases where what's good for the league is not necessarily good for the game or the fans.